Public comment ends on Bucks veterinary hospital plan

The Lower Makefield Township zoning board has scheduled an Aug. 13 meeting to decide whether to grant variances to a couple seeking to build a private veterinary hospital on township-owned open space, according to Township Supervisor Jeff Benedetto.

A meeting Tuesday night was a continuation of public comment that began at a June session, Benedetto said. Public comment is now over, and the zoning board will announce its decision at next month's meeting, he added.

The proposal, brought forth by veterinarian Amy Bentz and her husband, is to build an equine hospital on about five acres of Patterson Farm, a 234-acre property that the township purchased in 1998. Before any construction can begin, however, the zoning board would have to grant six variances to Bentz and her husband.

Residents have argued that approving the variances would violate the township's original purchase agreement, which said the land would be used for agriculture, horticulture, recreation, or open space. Benedetto is a rare township official who agrees.

Other officials have said the hospital project would help the township financially, since it is still paying off the land's purchase price, and revitalize the Satterthwaite House - where the hospital would be built - which has been uninhabited for years.